MSE News: Bank charges: banks win test case appeal

smothy

Well, given that HM Govt is the biggest shareholder in our banks I can't say I'm surprised.

When the Courts froze the reclaims last, the response of my bank RBS was to increase the fee from £35 to £38. I am fully expecting a similar 'V sign' from them almost immediately.

As has been said, this decision gives the green light for companies to screw us further into the ground. :T

Vagabond_UK

This is a disgraceful decision by the Supreme Court and clearly a political one made for economic reasons rather than on a point of law that has been passed by two previous court rulings.

Put simply, the Supreme Court has bought into banks’ spin and scaremongering.

Quite how their decison differs so radically from not one, but two courts beggars belief. Banks can now name their price for fees charged – utterly outrageous! I don’t even have a current account – my account is a basic one so it’s impossible for me to go overdrawn without the bank physically doing so themselves. £39 for returning a direct debit? Don’t make me laugh…

Their greed over the years has contributed a large part to so many people falling into debt with their punitive charges, and the whole thing stinks! I wonder how many of the Lords who sat on the appeal court are shareholders in the major banks and are protecting their share dividends?

Rotten, absolutely rotten… the Supreme Court – and the government which allowed it all to happen for so long – should hang their heads in shame!

orc_2

Please remember that disappointing as this Supreme Court judgement is, that there is the possibility of the OFT investigating the use of alternative powers. Indeed, reference was made to that in the judgement.

It is by no means over yet.

Time needs to be taken to assess the situation by all concerned.

Tozer

bluekaw wrote: »

good luck martin, finding a way round this, thanks for all your efforts

Eh? Is Mr Lewis now a Queens Counsel that can take this to the European Court of Justice?

For crying out loud, this is the way things go with litigation. There are no certainties or there wouldn't be a dispute.

straddie

Excellent decision today. Those of us who have managed our money within the terms and conditions we agreed to when opening the account will now not have to foot the bill for those who feel the rules shouldn't apply to them.

stapeley

This ruling is NOT SAVING THE CHARGES ARE FAIR . It means that the OFT has no say in the matter ! I would now suggest a online campaign and letters to your local M P .
The credit card companies reduced their charges to £12.50 so why not the banks ?

twinmom04

well i'm not surprised with the ruling in the current climate. what bugs me is you HAVE to have a bank account this is something the goverment have forced on us, to stop people diddling the tax man and so they can keep their big brother eye on us. Maybe employeers need to start thinking about paying in cash again and cutting out the big fat banker. Luckly I've managed to pay off my credit card and stay in my overdraft and reduce it by £400 this year (which the bank chrged me £25 for the pleasure)!

The banks went against the courts and appealed higher why cant the OFT?:mad:

Davef68

glider3560 wrote: »

What I think is disgusting, is that people think they can steal the bank's money without their permission. As an analogy, I would compare going into an unauthorised overdraft as walking into a shop, removing something from the shelf and walking out without paying. You wouldn't get away with "I don't have much money" in the shop, so why should the bank be the same? Most people on these boards are on low incomes but learn to live within their means and not steal the bank's money.

People seem to have got into their heads that it is alright to steal the bank's money without any consequences. It is not and should certainly be made illegal.

If you didn't agree with the charges, then why did you open the bank account?

Before someone says that the banks have stolen taxpayers money, they haven't. In case anyone doesn't realise, the government didn't just hand over money to the banks, but instead bought shares in the banks. This means that when the banks become more profitable again, the government will receive income in the form of dividends from the bank.

Today's decision is an excellent one and I hope that the "free banking" model will continue.

No-one would say that a charge for an unauthorised overdraft is wrong, but thelevel the banks were charging was punitive rather than a fair charge. An example - my expenses payments were delayed in clearing, so we went £25 over our (fairly low) overdraft limit as a DD came off the day we were due to get paid-transactions on the 'unauthorised' payemnts amounted to two £10 debit card payments and a £7 cheque!.

For that we were charged £35 per transaction.

The free banking model will end as the banks can no longer afford to run it. Then I will laugh. at you

heppy23

I am shocked by this decision. The charges are worth something like 2.6 billion a year to the UK banking industry. On the news last night they were talking about a secret 60 billion loan made last year to keep some banks going.

If it wasn't for the fact you get penalised for paying bills by cash now I would arrange to get paid in cash and keep it all in a shoebox.

I'm seeing a lot of smug holier than thou replies on here from those too perfect to have ever been stung for bank charges. What they don't realise is that the odds are stacked in favour of the banks and once you start getting hit with charges things can very quickly spiral.
Even if you think the charges are fair they are not even remotely proportional. £35 for a letter that has been spat out by some automated computer process? Ridiculous.

moggylover

angelflower wrote: »

I do appreciate a lot of the comments from those people who have been successful in managing their finances well and I can certainly understand where you are coming from however, you must recognise that for many people, getting bank charges is not something they planned for nor want, and definately cannot afford. Bank charges happen for many reasons and the problems occur when daily charges are applied or charges are applied on top of charges etc. It is extrememly difficult for people to recover from the spiral just one charge can spark.

I know that when I took out an account, I agreed to pay charges however always hoped (and for the most part planned) to always be in the black. When you lose your job though and you have £20 left in the bank, your electric meter has run out and your kids havent eaten that day, you take the money thats there, hoping and praying you find a way to raise enough cash to put the money back before the direct debit comes out. Sometimes it works and other times it doesnt.

I do hope that for those of you up there on your high horse that you never have a period of poverty where you have to make those types of decisions because now the banks have been given this permission to make the charges whatever they deem fit, you will all end up paying now.

Excellently put!:T:T:T:T